Feverish Love
by NextGeneration18
Summary: What happens when Jesse gets sick and everyone notices Cisco's feelings for her? Everyone, including the one person Cisco would rather not find out? Sequel to "Buried PTSD", another Quickvibe one-shot.


**Hey, y'all! I know it's been a while since my last QuickVibe fic, and I just want to thank everybody for all the positive comments and support!**

 **Penny: Thank-you for the wonderful compliment! It's always nice to read something encouraging!**

 **Guest 1: Thank-you! Depth to my story was my goal!**

 **Guest 2: Here's another!**

 **Guest 3: Yeah, that would definitely be Harry's reaction followed by his first heart attack and first attempt at killing Cisco while he was still in bed!**

 **Anon: Thank-you! I don't think I've ever had my work considered as "charming" before and I'm glad I was able to capture Cisco's loving nature, 'cause that's how he is!**

 **Johnney be Goode: thank-you for the writing prompt!**

 **Anarchy: I wish their relationship was canon!**

 **So this story takes place while Jesse and her father were still on Earth 1 before Barry messed everything up. I thought about making a story after Jesse returned to Earth 2, but felt that there wasn't enough development between her and Cisco for that to happen and hence this story. I'm combining two writing prompts that I received from reviews from my previous QuickVibe fics. The first one was from a guest who reviewed** _ **The Fluff Thief.**_ **He or she asked if I could write another story where it centers on Cisco taking care of her as the result something bad happening to her. Whether the person meant "sick" or "injured" I don't know, so I'll go with "sick" for now. The second was someone called Johnney be Goode who reviewed** _ **Buried PTSD,**_ **who asked if maybe others could start taking notice of Cisco and Jesse's budding relationship, which I thought was a good idea. Nothing seems to happen in a vacuum at S.T.A.R. Labs anyway. I hope I do a good job, so please let me know!**

* * *

"Hey, Cisco."

Cisco looked up from his computer desk to see Barry hand him a Styrofoam coffee cup.

"Huh?"

"You asked for coffee."

"Oh, thanks." he took the warm cup and turned his attention back to where it had been: on Jesse Wells.

She hadn't looked well these past few days and had been more quiet than usual. He had wondered if she was still recovering from Zoom which might have not been far from the truth. Since that midnight confession about a month ago, they had had more conversations at night, most if them light. He had gotten her to watch _The Walking Dead_ with him and she had gotten him to watch _Poldark,_ something that Cisco never thought he'd get into, but once he heard that one of the main dwarves from _The Hobbit_ trilogy was the main character, he was all in and found himself enjoying it, slow as it could be, making it the perfect show to watch to wind down for the evening.

But the last few nights, Jesse hadn't been up for that. She said she was "drained" and ended up turning in an hour earlier than she usually did, which bothered Cisco. Currently, she was sitting in another computer chair across the room reading a book looking pale. When was the last time she had eaten?

"You know, if you stare at her any longer you might gain the ability to shoot lasers from your eyes."

Cisco jumped realized that Barry had taken a seat next to him and was smiling in a teasing manner. He tried to recover in his usual slick way.

"What? I don't know… I don't know what you're talking about." He cleared his throat feeling his face heat up and knew that he would've been sentenced to death if Harry was in an earshot.

Barry chuckled.

"Alright; I'll play along. I'll just pretend that I didn't notice how you guys magically finish each other's sentences, are always on the same page, how you guys just stare at each other like we're in a 1st grade classroom always afraid to make a move, yet somehow have scheduled TV show and movie nights, not to mention the fact that you make her coffee every single morning. It's obvious, but, okay, I never saw any of it."

Cisco felt as if someone had taken a flashlight to the darkest parts of his soul.

"Is it that obvious?" He hissed so Jesse wouldn't hear.

"Um, yeah, embarrassingly so."

"How obvious?"

"Well…"

 _Three weeks ago._

" _Is it just me or does Cisco seem to have a thing for Jesse?" Caitlin asked Barry, Oliver, Felicity and Iris while they were having dinner at Big Belly's. Cisco was at a family reunion and Jesse and Harry decided to stay at S.T.A.R. Labs._

 _Barry laughed._

" _You're just_ _ **now**_ _noticing that? I've noticed potential since we rescued her from Zoom."_

" _Who's Jesse again?" Oliver asked taking a sip of soda._

" _I'm not sure if you've met her," Barry said thoughtfully, "She's Earth 2 Harrison Wells' daughter."_

" _Oh! You mean that cute girl with the short brunette hair?" Felicity piped up, "The one who dresses like she's from the 60's but pulls it off like it's today fashion?"_

" _That would be Jesse," Caitlin smiled._

" _Oh, yeah," Oliver nodded, "I know who you're talking about now. And yes, I think he has a thing for her."_

" _You only saw them in the same room for like, what, 2 minutes?" Felicity tilted her head with a smile in her husband's direction._

" _Yeah, but I had to pull Cisco's attention away from looking at her to get him to focus on a piece of tech that_ _ **he**_ _created; it usually doesn't take that much to get Cisco Ramon talking about tech. So, yeah, I think he likes her."_

" _But does she like him?" Iris asked, "I mean, is there any way to tell? She can be quiet at times."_

" _Oh, I know_ _ **she**_ _likes_ _ **him**_ _," Caitlin smiled knowingly, "she's always looking at him all doey eyed when she thinks that no one's looking. And they've become quite close since her rescue from Zoom."_

 _Oliver and Barry smiled at each other and shook their heads as the girls' talked about what most girls liked the most: a brewing love story._

" _I guess we should all wonder when or which one of them is going to cave in and confess their feelings to whom first."_

" _Well," Caitlin looked into her purse and pulled out her wallet, "I'm not usually a betting woman, but I'm laying down 15 dollars that Cisco will be the first."_

" _Wow," Barry whistled, "That sure."  
"15 dollars is nothing," Caitlin said, "Besides, I've known Cisco longer than anyone in this room. He never hides what he feels about for long. When was the last time that he ever hid his opinion for more than 3 days?" _

" _That_ _ **would**_ _be the max," Barry agreed._

" _Good point." Felicity said, "5 dollars on Cisco."_

" _Well, I'm betting on Jesse," Iris said putting a 10 on top of Caitlin's 10 and 5, "She's got iron; and she_ _ **can**_ _be forward when she wants to be. What about you two?" She looked up at Barry and Oliver who had been silent for quite some time. "Who do you think will be the first to cave and tell?"_

 _Oliver scoffed with a smile and Barry chuckled._

 _Barry shrugged._

" _I'm going with Cisco." Barry took out a 5 and placed it on the table, "Oliver?"_

" _I'm not doing this." He looked away._

" _Oliver," Felicity gave him her blue puppy eyes._

" _Okay; fine." He reached into his wallet, "5 dollars on Cisco Ramon. You happy?"_

" _Yes, very."_

" _You guys are idiots."_

 _Everyone turned around to see Leonard Snart standing behind them. They were too shocked to say anything._

" _I don't know the girl in question, but I know Ramon well enough. He won't have the_ _ **guts**_ _to admit feelings this deep for a girl." He walked to the table with a 10 and a 5. "15 dollars on this Jenny whoever. Let me know when I need to collect. I might need the 15 for a snack." With that, he walked away and left Big Belly's with a paper bag containing his sandwich. Hopefully._

Present day.

"I'll just leave it at it's pretty obvious." Barry answered Cisco.

"Like, _how_ obvious are we talking about here?" Cisco felt nervous when he thought of Jesse's trigger-happy father. "Like everyone but Jesse knows, only a few people know or everyone _including_ Jesse knows?"

"More like the first one," Barry said, "Though, I don't know about Harry. He's always giving you the evil eye so it's hard to tell.

"She's a nice girl." Barry looked Jesse's way and Cisco followed his line of vision to where she sat, "I can see why you like her."

"Yeah…" he watched as she flipped through the book, "she hasn't seemed to have been doing so well lately. I wonder if she's coming down with something."

"Maybe. She has been more quiet than usual."

Jesse got up and listlessly put the book on the lab table near the chair, and walked out.

"If my dad asks, could you please tell him that I'm taking a walk downtown?"

Cisco bit his tongue while taking a better look at her. She looked pale, but he knew that he couldn't talk her out of doing this.

But there was one thing that he could do.

He stood up.

"You know, a walk just might do me some good as well; I'll go too."

Jesse smiled.

"You don't have any work to do?"

Cisco shrugged and tried to look as nonchalant as possible.

"Not at the moment." _I'd still be going even if I did._

Jesse nodded.

"Okay. I'll go get my coat. See you, Barry."

Barry waved.

"Alright." He gave a thumb up to Cisco when she wasn't looking as both of them walked out the door.

* * *

It was chilly which caused Cisco to keep a sharper eye on her since he didn't know what she could be coming down with.

"Why don't we go to Jitter's?" He breathed into his hands then rubbed them together. "I could use something warm to drink."

"Okay." Jesse said without much energy.

He held the door open for her causing Jesse to smile as she walked into the café.

"Pumpkin spiced latte. That's a thing?" Jesse asked as they both looked at the menu while waiting in line.

Cisco felt his eyebrows shoot up as he turned to his companion.

"You earth really _is_ lacking a few things. First no marshmallow fluff, and now you tell me that there's no such thing as a pumpkin spiced…" he trailed off when he saw her smiling. He laughed.

"Okay, you really got me there."

Jesse laughed.

"I've been waiting to pull something like that." She bumped into his arm playfully with her own. He smiled as he looked at her then frowned when he saw that she was looking worse by the minute. How much longer would she want to stay out before he could convince her to go home and get some rest?

Once the barista handed them their pumpkin spiced lattes, Cisco decided to try and keep Jesse in the café.

"How about we sit on the couch for a little while?"

Surprisingly, she didn't argue.

They sat on the two seated couch and observed customers for a moment.

"Caitlin told me that you once dated a barista that worked here."

Cisco looked at her and saw her resting her head back on the couch.

"Sorry; I shouldn't have asked that."

"No, it's fine. I've been over her for a while now." Truth be told, he hadn't thought about Kendra since they rescued Jesse from Zoom. Even coming to Jitter's didn't remind him of her anymore, which spoke volumes on how he had gotten over her.

"Her name was Kendra," he took a sip of his latte, "I dated her for about two months. Come to find out, she was some part of some ancient reincarnation curse and she was always destined to be with one man whom she hadn't met in this lifetime. Then she did, and I haven't seen her since."

"I'm sorry."

Cisco observed her. It was time to get her home. He reached over and placed a hand on her forehead. His eyebrows shot up.

"You're burning up."

"Your hand is cold."

"No…" he leaned over and kissed her forehead trying to avoid the electricity that he felt when his lips made contact with her skin. "You've got a fever. I'm taking you home." He stood up and offered his hand to her. "Come on, Jesse; let's not be so stubborn."

Jesse limply took his hand and he pulled her up. It was almost like she could hardly stand.

He put his arm around her waist.

"Alright; let's go."

* * *

All the way back to S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco kept glancing at her from the driver's seat. She was half asleep and was looking paler by the minute. He'd seen fevers before and none of them had been this bad. What kind of virus did she have?

He pulled into the garage and parked as quickly as he could.

"Jesse? You still awake?" He reached over and rubbed the top of her downy head.

She opened her eyes looking weary.

"Hey," he smiled, "We're back."

"We are?" She sounded groggy, "But we just got in the car."

"But we're back." Cisco got out of the car and ran to the other side and opened her door, "Come on; let's get you to bed."

Jesse started to get out of the car before realizing that she hadn't unbuckled herself. She unbuckled herself and got out and Cisco took her hand. He started to lead her into the Labs.

"Cisco?"

He turned back to see her swaying.

"Yes, Jesse?" He tried to keep the panic out of his voice.

Her knees suddenly buckled and she sank slowly to the ground.

"Jesse!" He reached over and caught her up in his arms before she hit the ground. "Jesse?"

No response.

Good thing this happened when they got back and not at Jitter's.

What did she have?

* * *

"What happened to her?" Harry asked as Cisco rushed her into the main laboratory.

"I don't know, she just collapsed!" He ran her into the room with the bed and laid her down as gently as he could, his arms sore. Maybe he should ask Oliver for a manual for his work out routine.

"Jesse?" He tenderly brushed her hair away from her face while she muttered something incoherent.

"Let me see her." Harry nearly shoved Cisco out of the way trying to get to her. Cisco stepped back and let the man work. Harry gently lifted Jesse up to sitting position.

"Cisco, part her hair and look at the base of her neck."

Cisco sat on the bed behind Jesse and did as he was told.

"There seems to be some sort of breakout there," he said, "almost like chicken pox."

"I knew it."

Cisco stood up and Harry gently laid his daughter back on the bed. He took off his glasses and covered his mouth with one of his hands.

"So…what's that supposed to mean?" Cisco tried to push down any anxiety he felt by looking calmer than he felt but couldn't keep the concern out of his voice.

Harry looked up at Cisco putting his glasses back on.

"You mean to tell me that you don't know something so basic?"

"Hey, whatever she has, we don't get here on Earth 1!" Cisco was trying to keep his temper for Jesse's sake, but no matter how much this guy loved her, he could still get on Cisco's nerves like no one else could. Even Hartley Rathaway was easier to get along than this guy!

Harry breathed out.

"Then you're blessed. What she has here is what we call back on Earth 2 psychosis fever."

"What?" Cisco did _not_ like the sound of that. "'Psychosis fever'? You mean to tell me that she…"

"Well she doesn't actually _have_ psychosis of course. The fever manifests itself in psychotic tendencies. Like hallucinations, delusions, even split personalities on rare occasions. In a nutshell, she'll relive her worst experience over and over again until the fever passes."

"But…her worst experience was Zoom."

"I know. Which means even if she wakes up, she'll see him here, she'll hear him talking to her when she doesn't see him, she'll think she's back in that holding cell, you get the idea."

Cisco had never felt more sorry for anybody in his life. Well, except for when Barry had to let his mother die. Harry continued.

"Usually people on Earth 2 get this fever when they're children, much like chicken pox, and they don't get it again. But Jesse was somehow able to avoid it as a kid."

"Is there a vaccine for it?"

"Unfortunately not right now. There's one trying to be developed, but right now it's worse than the fever. People have been sent to asylums because of the trial vaccine, and there's only so many cures for that. It's better to let the fever to just take its course."

Cisco felt his heart tug as he saw Jesse tossing and turning on her bed.

"How long does it usually last? And how did she get it if she's been on Earth 1 for so long"

Harry sighed though not out of irritation.

"Depends of the person, but the norm is three days."

Three days of reliving your worst nightmares over and over again. 60 hours of pure torture. Cisco shivered as Harry answered his second question.

"I'm not quite sure, but I've had a theory developing in my mind over the years and this just might prove my theory. I think that's there's some sort of viral strand that we're born with back on Earth 1 and just lays dormant until something triggers it."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Stress maybe. I've noticed that kids from abused homes tend to get it far more quickly than kids who have better childhoods such as Jesse, but like I said, I'm not sure. I'm just theorizing here."

Jesse moaned and gripped one of the sidebars like she was in pain.

Without thinking, Cisco leaned over and stroked the top of her head.

"You'll be okay, Jesse," he placed his hand over hers that was on the sidebar, "It'll be all over soon."

He suddenly remembered that her father was in the room, and looked over at Harry who had a raised eyebrow in his direction. Cisco felt his face heat up as Harry opened his mouth to say something, but closed his mouth when he saw the tension go out of Jesse as she released the handlebar, curl up on her side and stick one of her hands under the pillow.

Harry tapped a nearby desk in annoyance and then he stood up.

"If she gets too out of control, we might have to strap her down. We don't want her to hurt herself."

Cisco felt cold at the idea but agreed it was probably the only way to go.

"Is it contagious?"

"I don't think so. But since you've had your hands on her, we'll see."

Cisco felt the bite in his words and didn't answer.

Harry sighed.

"I'll go tell the others. Jesse we'll need around-the-clock supervision. You can take the first watch."

* * *

Harry took the night watch which drove Cisco nuts. Not because it was Harry that took the night watch, but because it was anybody but himself taking the night watch.

He laid awake, not even trying to get some sleep knowing that it was futile.

A blood curdling shriek echoed from the laboratory, causing Cisco to throw the covers off of his legs and run out the door. As he neared the lab, he could hear Harry trying to console her.

"Jesse, honey, it's not real; he's not really here."

"Get away from me!"

"Jesse, come back!"

As Cisco entered the lab, Jesse accidentally rammed herself against him. Instinctively, Cisco grasped her tight and pushed her back at arm's length.

"Jesse," he said.

"Cisco?" She whimpered, "What are you doing here? Did he capture you too?!"

She was clearly out of her mind. He shook her firmly.

"No, he didn't. We're not at Zoom's lair; we're at S.T.A.R. Labs. You're sick and you're dad over there is just trying to keep watch over you."

"My…dad?"

"Yeah, he's right behind you."

Jesse turned around as Harry was making his was over to them.

Jesse gave a little shriek and turned around to run only to have Cisco tighten his grip on her.

"It's just your dad, Jesse."

"No, it's not! That's Zoom! How could you mistake the two?"

Cisco saw Harry with a needle and stuck it in Jesse's neck once he got behind her. Jesse fell limp in Cisco's arms.

Cisco blinked.

"What did you…"

"It's a tranquilizer. It's going to keep her out the rest of the night, though I doubt it'll keep her nightmares at bay."

Cisco leaned down and picked Jesse up. Surprisingly, Harry didn't argue.

"Would it be too much to take her back to her room?"

Harry looked sympathetic.

"As much as I would like to, there's nothing we can tether anything to keep her down, if we have to."

"Can't we just give her more tranquilizer?"

"It would be easier on us, but we shouldn't be dosing her with it over and over for the next 50 something hours."

Unfortunately, he was right.

Cisco laid her back on the hospital bed, then turned to Harry.

"I'll be right back." he went back to her room and got her blanket and one of her pillows before returning to the lab. He thought he actually saw Harry smile a little despite their situation as Cisco tucked her in and lifted her head to replace the pillow.

But when he turned back to him, whatever smile he thought he saw was gone.

"Alright, Ramon. She won't be waking up any more tonight, so you can rest easy."

"I doubt it."

"Well, if it's all the same, you'll have the next watch, so you should try and get _some_ sleep."

Cisco couldn't argue with that. He took a magnesium supplement to knock him out, which did the trick and he was able to something of a good night's rest.

* * *

"Mind if I sit with you?"

Cisco watched Barry look up at him in surprise. Apparently he hadn't seen him coming.

Harry had exhausted himself by staying up during the day instead of getting some sleep, which was why Barry had volunteered to take this night's watch.

The day had been eventful, Jesse trying to escape twice. Once during the afternoon and the second time when they had to strap her down. She had cried when they did that which broke Cisco's heart. Actually, it probably broke everybody's.

Harry was currently sleeping out of pure exhaustion or he probably wouldn't have been able to sleep at all.

Jesse seemed to be doing something resembling sleeping. She whimpered every few seconds and her entire body was tensed up.

"Sure, go ahead." Barry said as Cisco sat next to him.

"Has she woken up at all?"

Barry shook his head.

"Not really. She just keeps muttering something about Zoom touching her."

Cisco tensed as he remembered what Jesse had confided in him the month before.

 _He…he used to…touch me quite a bit…it was part of his mind games._

He clenched his jaw thinking up a million things he would do to that man if he could.

"I'm going to get some coffee," Barry said standing up, "It's going to be a long night if I don't. Want anything?"

Cisco shook his head.

"No thanks; I need to get some sleep myself soon."

"Alright." Barry walked out of the laboratory in the direction of the kitchen.

Cisco watched Jesse roll her head from side to side whimpering. It killed him that he couldn't do anything about it, except just to wait it out. He stood up to stroke her head when she suddenly bolted upright causing Cisco to jump back in surprise.

"Cisco?!" She looked at him with wild, frantic, brown eyes. She gasped. "Behind you!"

"Jesse…"

"Behind you!"

"Alright." Cisco turned around to see nothing but the darkened computer room, "There's nothing there."

"Why does everyone keep saying that? He's going to kill you." She broke down crying.

It was too much.

"Jesse," Cisco reached behind him and pulled the chair forward and sat down close to her side. "Does it resemble reason _at all_ if Zoom is in the same room as we are and we're not reacting?" He stroked her hair.

Jesse stopped crying for a moment and looked up at him.

"No," she sniffed, "not really."

"Exactly." He thumbed her tears away, "You're sick with the psychosis fever which is why you keep seeing him everywhere. You're reliving your worst nightmare."

"Psychosis fever…" Jesse seemed to ponder it and she looked behind Cisco then back at him suspiciously, "And you're sure Zoom isn't behind you?"

Cisco looked behind him.

"Nothing but the empty computer room." He smiled at her, "Do you trust me?"

Jesse looked behind him one last time and nodded slowly and rested her head back into her pillow. She kept looking behind him at the imaginary Zoom but relaxed a bit more as Cisco tucked a piece of brunette hair behind her ear.

"Remember what we've talked about before," he said as she started to close her eyes, "You're not his priority anymore. Besides, Barry and I won't let him hurt you."

Her breathing deepened indicating sleep and Cisco sat back and folded his hands watching her.

"Wow."

Cisco turned his head as Barry entered the room with a coffee mug.

"That's the calmest I've seen her since two days ago." He sat down next to Cisco.

"I was able to reason with her. Do you think that means it's going to break soon?"

Barry looked thoughtful.

"Wells said that this lasts for about…what 60 hours?"

"Yeah."

"Well, tomorrow would make it only 48 so I doubt it. Maybe she just trusts you a lot." He smiled as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Well, Harry said the _norm_ was 60 hours but maybe hers won't be."

Barry shrugged.

"Maybe; we can hope." They both watched Jesse sleeping peacefully.

"You know," Barry said, "If Harry didn't dislike you so much, I would just leave you in charge of her seeing that you're the only one who seem to get through to her right now. But since he does…"

"Yeah…I know."

"I'll wake you if I need you though."

"Alright; thanks, man."

There was nothing else he could do at the moment, but it encouraged him that he was at least able to do something.

* * *

"Cisco, why don't you take a minute to have lunch?"

Cisco looked up and saw Caitlin standing in the doorway looking sympathetic. "She won't get better just by looking at her. Though from what Barry told me about last night, she seems to have improved a little bit."

 _At least she's no longer whimpering._

"Alright." He stood up thinking about the cold pizza in the kitchen fridge.

Jesse started to moan.

Cisco snapped his head in her direction to see Jesse slowly opening her eyes.

"My head…" She moaned, "Where am I?"

Cisco forced himself from leaping forward and instead walked over and sat down next to her.

"Jesse?"

Jesse looked at him perplexed.

"Cisco? What happened?"

He leaned forward and felt her forehead.

He laughed with relief.

"The fever's broken."

Caitlin sighed in relief.

"Thank goodness."

"What?" Jesse sat up, "Why are my wrists strapped down to the sidebars?"

Cisco leaned forward and started untying them.

"Sorry about that."

"Jesse, are you alright?" Harry walked in, "How are you feeling?"

"I have a headache, but I'm fine other than that? Now about the leather straps…"

"Yes, well…what's the last thing you remember?"

Jesse looked up at Cisco.

"I was in the parking garage with Cisco."

"So you mean to tell me that the last two days have been a blank slate to you?" Barry asked leaning against the wall. Cisco didn't even know he was there.

Jesse's eyes widened.

"Two days? _That's_ how long I was out? What did I have?"

"Psychosis fever." Cisco and Harry said at the same time. They looked at each other.

"Oh." Jesse said, "Well that explains why I was held down. Hope I didn't scare anybody too bad."

Everyone in the room laughed nervously.

"I'm just glad you won't get it again." Cisco said.

"Agreed." Barry said.

"For once I'm with you, Cisco." Harry said.

"Mhm." Was Caitlin's high pitched reply.

Jesse looked at everyone suspiciously before giving a nervous laugh.

"I'm not going to ask."

"Nor will you get any answers." Cisco said laughing with relief.

Jesse looked at Cisco and smiled in a way that he had missed.

"Now all I want is a peanut butter/marshmallow fluff sandwich and _The Walking Dead._ "

Caitlin moaned.

"You're the only one around here besides Cisco who likes that show." She said while Barry laughed and Harry shot Cisco a look that screamed: _You've corrupted my daughter._

"I'll get you the sandwich," Cisco said standing up. "We'll turn on the TV when I get back."

"Alright."

* * *

Cisco whistled while he made the sandwich in the kitchen and placed it on a paper plate. He opened the refrigerator door to get the milk. When he closed it, Harry was standing right behind the door causing Cisco to jump.

"Jeeeeez, Harry; don't ever do that again. You're reminded me of your doppelganger right there." He walked over to the cabinet to get a cup. When he turned around, Harry was leaning on the counter.

"I'm going to be quite frank with you, Cisco," He said as Cisco began to pour the milk, "I might be oblivious at times, but I'm not blind; I see the way you look and interact with my daughter."

Cisco did nothing but nod in response as he screwed the cap back on the milk.

"Now, as much as I would've dreaded something like this happening a few months ago, and, well, quite honestly nothing much has changed. But, I will admit this: Jesse could do a lot worse."

Cisco looked up not expecting this.

"Now, are you the ideal kind of guy I hoped Jesse would be with one day? Well….no. In fact, if she were to have brought home someone like you in high school, I would've done everything in my power to break you guys up."

Cisco blinked.

"But," Harry continued, "Jesse is a grown woman with a mind of her own. And you make her happy. Happier than I've seen her since her mother died. Now that, Cisco, is something invaluable."

Cisco blinked again. Did he just hear that?

"Now don't get too cocky on me, but if you were to ask Jesse out, I would be okay with that."

Cisco smiled.

"Really?"

" _Just_ okay."

"Alright." He nodded slowly and smiled almost smugly, "It's a start." He walked past Harry with the sandwich and milk.

" 'It's a start'? I'm not going to regret this, am I, Mr. Ramon?"

"Depends on what you'd regret." Cisco called back.

"Oh, no." Harry moaned as soon as Cisco disappeared. He rubbed his eyes underneath his glasses while leaning on the counter, "I really hope I'm not calling him my son in the next three years."

* * *

"You ready?" Cisco asked as he handed Jesse the sandwich while sitting down next to her.

"You bet." Jesse said almost ripping the sandwich in half with one bite.

Cisco smiled as he used the remote to find _The Walking Dead_ on Netflix. He looked at Jesse sitting crossed legged on her bed waiting for the episode to start. He just might ask her out sooner than Harry would like!

* * *

 **Alright, so that went on longer than I expected. I salute you all who decided to stick around and read it! Now you know the real reason why I cut Jesse's fever in half! Anyway, please review/comment but please no foul language and/or character bashing.**


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